Building-block.



No. 784,476. PATENTED MAR. 7, 1905. B. W. DAVIS.

BUILDING BLOCK.

AYPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1904.

NITED STATES Patented March 7, 1905.

BENJAMIN WV. DAVIS, OF PHILLIPS, \VISCONSIN.

BUILDING-BLOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,476, dated March'7, 1905.

' Application filed September 12, 1904. Serial No. 224,079.

To all whom, it Til/(by concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN IV. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Phillips, county of Price, State of Visconsin, (whosepost-office address is Phillips, \Visconsin,) have invented a certainnew and useful Improvementin Building-Blocks; and 1 dcclare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates in general to masonry, and more particularly toartificial-stone building-blocks.

In constructing the walls of buildings it is desirable to formair-spaces within the walls, as the air serves to more thoroughlyprotect the interior of the building from moisture, heat, and cold. Ithas heretofore been proposed to provide building-blocks made ofartificial stone, such as cement, which have air-spaces, so that as thewall is constructed by laying successive rows of blocks air-spaces areformed within the wall coincidently with its construction.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a building-block of thecharacter mentioned which when laid will form a wall having the greatestpossible air-space within the same and which will have a minimum amountof material extending between and uniting the inner and outer partitionsof the wall.

A further object of my invention is to provide an artificial-stonebuilding-block which may be readily alined and interlocked in layingrows thereof and which will require in its construction a minimum amountof material for building a wall of a given thickness.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a building-blockwhich will be simple in construction, inexpensive in manufacture, andeflicient in use.

The embodiments of my invention herein disclosed, generallydescribed,consist in building-blocks composed of a'plura-lity ofparallel partitions, a web interposed between and uniting adjacentpartitions intermediate of their ends, the corresponding ,endsofadjacent partitions being oppositely beveled, thereby insuring perfectalinement and forming interlocked joints between adjacent blocks.

My invention will be more fully described hereinafter, with reference tothe accompanying'drawings, in which the same is illustrated as embodiedin several convenient and practical forms, and in which Figure l is aplan view of a portion of a wall constructed of my improvedbuildingblocks; Fig. 2, a plan view of a modified form of block; Fig. 3,a central horizontal section of another modified block embodying myinvention; Figs. 4:, 5, and 7, plan views of other modifications, andFig. 6 a perspective view of the form of block illustrated in Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters are used to designate similar parts in theseveral ligu res of the drawings.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 6, reference characters A, B,and (I designate parallel partitions which are united by intermediatewebs (& and c to form a buildingblock. A single web is interposedbetween adjacent partitions and is located intermediate of the ends ofthe united partitions, so that each block contains four open-endedspaces, as is clearly shown in Fig. 6. The corresponding ends ofadjacent partitions are oppositely beveled vertically, so that when theblocks are laid end to end to form rows in the construction of a wallthe blocks are readily alined and adjoining blocks are connected byoverlapping and interlocked joints. The opposite ends of each of thepartitions A, B, and G are correspondingly beveled vertically.

In order to form a corner between two walls extending at right angles toeach other, a block such as shown in Fig. l is preferably employed. Thisblock comprises three partitions F, Gr, and H, which are united by websfand g. The partition F is straight, while the partitions G and H areangular and extend around one end of the partition F. In order to givethe corner-block the requisite strength, two webs are preferablyinterposed between the angular partitions G and H. The ends of thepartitions forming the corner-block are beveled to correspond with thebeveled ends of the blocks which form the walls and which are united bythe corner-block. In order to form openings through the wall for windowsand doors, blocks such as indicated at the right in Fig. 1 arepreferably employed. Such block comprises parallel partitions K, L, andM united by the alined webs k and Z. The ends of the partitions arebeveled to correspond with the beveled ends of the block with which theycooperate.

In lieu of a block such as above described, in which the severalpartitions extend different distances at each end of the block, theinvention may be embodied. in a block such as shown in Fig. 3, in whichthe partitions are coextensive. In this figure reference characters A Band designate the parallel partitions which are united 'by webs a and 0located intermediate of the ends of the partitions which they unite.

In Fig. 4 I have shown an embodiment'of my invention in which the blockcomprises five parallel partitions, thereby forming a wall in whichthere are four parallel series of airspaces. In this figure referencecharacters A B C D and E designate the partitions forming the blockwhich are united by webs (6 6 c and (Z located intermediate of the endsof the adjacent partitions which are united by the individual webs. InFig. 4 the partitions B and D are shown as extending farther to the leftthan the central partition C and the outer partitions A and E extendingfarther to the left than the partitions B and In lieu of the relativearrangement of the partitions illustrated in Fig. 4 they may be arrangedas shown in Fig. 5, in which the successive partitions A", 13*, C, D,and E extend progressively in an inclined direction. The adjacentpartitions are united by single webs a, I), c, and (Z intermediate ofthe ends of the partitions.

In Figs. 2 and 7 I have shown buildingblocks embodying my inventioncomprising merely two parallel partitions united by a Z- shaped web. InFig. 7 the parallel partitions A and C are staggered and are united bythe Z-shaped web composed of the portions 66' and 0 In Fig. 2 theparallel partitions A and G are laterally coextensive and are united bythe Z-web composed of the parts to and 0. By forming the web in Z shapethe interior of the structure formed by the wall is more perfectlyprotected from moisture, heat, and cold, as the web affords an irregularpath between the exterior and interior partitions.

Should it be found desirable in constructing blocks embodying myinvention in order that they may have suflicient structural strength,

metal reinforcements may be located within the webs, such as the wires7) shown in Fig. 3. Such strengthenmg reinforcements may also,

if desired, be located within the parallel partitions of the blocks, asindicated'in dotted lines in Fig. 7.

In each of the various embodiments of my invention it will be observedthe individual blocks comprise parallel partitions united intermediateof their ends by webs, thereby forming open-ended air-spaces, so thatwhen the blocks are laid in rows in the construction of a wall parallelseries of air-spaces are formed, each air-space being surrounded in partby partitions of the adjoining blocks. It will also be noticed that ineach embodiment of my invention the outer and inner partitions areunited by one or more webs staggered with respectto each other orZ-shaped, thereby decreasing the liability of moisture, heat, and coldpenetrating the wall. In each of the illustrated embodiments of myinvention the corresponding ends of adjacent partitions are oppositelybeveled, thereby facilitating the accurate laying of the blocks end toend, insuring perfect alinement and forming interlocked joints betweenadjoining blocks.

The manner of constructinga wall of building-blocks embodying myinvention will be evident to those skilled in the art. By reference toFig. 1 it will be seen that a single form of corner-block may beutilized for uniting the end blocks in the two walls extending to thecorner and that openings may be readily provided for windows and doorsby employing a block constructed as clearly shown in Fig. 1. Thesuccessive layers of blocks are preferably staggered, so that the jointsbetween adjacent blocks in alternate rows aline with each other and areout of alinement with the joints between adjacent blocks in theintermediate rows. The corner-block is so constructed that by invertingthe same it serves to unite the blocks in the several rows. The blocksin each succeeding row are inverted with respect to those in thepreceding row, thereby staggering or breaking the joints in thesuccessive rows.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that I have inventedan improved building-block by the use of which a wall may be constructedcontaining a maximum amount of air-space within the same and containinga minimum amount of material.

I claim 1. A building-block comprising three or more parallelpartitions, a web interposed between adjacent partitions intermediate oftheir ends thereby forming a plurality of series of open-endedair-spaces between the partitions.

2. A building-block comprising a plurality 3. A building-blockcomprising a plurality of parallel partitions, a connecting meanscomposed of staggered portions interposed between and uniting the outerpartitions intermediate of their ends thereby forming a series ofopen-ended air-spaces between the partitions. I

4. A building-block comprisinga plurality of parallel staggeredpartitions of equal length, a web interposed between adjacent partitionsintermediate of their ends, thereby forming a series of open-endedair-spaces between the partitions.

5. A building-block comprising a plurality of parallel staggeredpartitions of equal length, a web interposed between adjacent partitionsintermediate of their ends thereby forming a series of open-endedair-spaces between the partitions,the corresponding ends of adjacentpartitions being oppositely beveled vertically.

6. A building-block comprising a plurality of parallel staggeredpartitions, a connecting means composed ol staggered portions interposedbetween and uniting the outer partitions intermediate of their endsthereby forming a series of open-ended air-spaces between thepartitions.

7. A corner building-block comprising a plurality of partitions, a webinterposed between adjacent partitions thereby forming a series ofopen-ended air-spaces between the partitions, the outer partition beingangular and extending around one end of the inner partition.

8. A corner building-block comprising a plurality of partitions, a webinterposed between adjacent partitions thereby forming a series ofopen-ended air-spaces between the partitions, the outer partition beingangular and extending around one end of the inner partition, thecorresponding ends of adjacent partitions being oppositely beveledvertically.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

BENJAMIN NV. DAVIS. \Vitnesses:

Geo. L. VVILKINsoN, I-IA'r'rIE B. LEHMAN.

